Facing the growing proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD) plans to reform procedural law. Speaking to the “Rheinische Post”, Hubig stated that AI represents a revolution, including within the realm of law. While insisting that AI cannot, and should not, replace human judgment-ultimate decisions must still be made by people-she predicts that the use of AI will inevitably become standard practice across the entire legal system. She views this development primarily as an opportunity.
Hubig elaborated that AI can make it easier for citizens to access justice and significantly relieve the burden on the courts. However, she also pointed out that many citizens and lawyers are already employing AI tools, leading to a surge in cases and, particularly, longer, poorly structured legal briefs arriving at judicial bodies. Consequently, she considers it necessary to evolve procedural law. She argued that courts must be able to impose clear guidelines on parties regarding how they present their claims, noting that courts cannot be inundated with unstructured AI-generated text. Work is currently underway on proposals to enact these procedural law reforms.
Looking specifically at consumer law, Hubig highlighted that AI offers great potential, particularly in enforcing consumer rights. She advised consumers to thoroughly investigate the providers and their tools beforehand. More generally, she issued a caution: one should never blindly assume that everything an AI tells them about the law is accurate. For anyone dealing with important legal matters and wishing to be fully secure, she strongly recommends seeking professional legal advice.
